1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bookmark managing system and a bookmark managing method and more particularly to the bookmark managing system and the bookmark managing method employed when a user is using a plurality of terminals.
The present application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-260495 filed on Aug. 29, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
A bookmark of this type represents a function of storing a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that has been incorporated in a WWW (World Wide Web) browser, that is, the function that enables a user to pull down and select a Web page that the user finds and wants to frequently confirm and recognize, from a menu, by registering a desired URL, when the user wishes to again access to the Web page next time, without re-inputting of the URL. Therefore, the user, when wishing to access to a content, if the URL of the content is one that-has been registered on the bookmark, can save work of again inputting the URL and can easily make an access to the contents being frequently used.
A conventional bookmark managing system will be described by referring to FIGS. 13 and 14. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing configurations of the conventional bookmark managing system. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of bookmark information in the conventional bookmark managing system.
The conventional bookmark managing system, as shown in FIG. 13, includes a client terminal 20 or a portable terminal 30 being used by the user, an information providing server 50 to provide information to the user, and the Internet 10 to connect the client terminal 20 and portable terminal 30 to the information providing server 50.
Next, configurations of each component of the conventional bookmark managing system will be described. The client terminal 20 is a terminal of a personal computer or a like which is provided internally with a browser 21 having a function of displaying WWW contents or a like and which is connected to the Internet 10. When the user inputs an address such as the URL or a like from the client terminal 20, the browser 21 obtains desired WWW contents and displays them.
The portable terminal 30 includes a portable cellular phone or a like and is provided internally with a browser 31 having a function of displaying WWW contents or the like and is connected through a gateway 40 to the Internet 10. When the user inputs an address such as the URL or a like through the portable terminal 30, the browser 31 obtains desired WWW contents from the information providing server 50 through the Internet 10 and displays them in the same way as done by the browser 21.
The conventional client terminal 20 and portable terminal 30 have a bookmark function adapted to manage such bookmark information as shown in FIG. 14. That is, bookmark information is stored in a manner that each “name” corresponds to each URL. The URL is a displaying method for indicating a place of an object on the Internet.
For example, the client terminal 20 or portable terminal 30 stores “URLS” such as “www. nec. co. jp/”, “www. biglobe. ne. jp/”, “www. oobank. co. jp/” (or a like) corresponding respectively to “NEC”, “Biglobe”, “OO bank”. Therefore, the user, when accessing to contents, can save work of doubly inputting the URL by using such the bookmark function.
However, the conventional bookmark function has a problem in that, if one user is using a plurality of terminals and when a bookmark is made same among two or more terminals, bookmark information stored in each terminal has to be changed individually and synchronization for the bookmark among terminals is not easy.
Moreover, when WWW contents using a browser installed in a portable terminal such as a portable cellular phone or a like are referred to by the user, the portable terminal, due to its processing and/or displaying capability constraint, has no other choice but to use a URL being different from that indicating WWW contents that can be displayed by the browser installed 21 in an ordinary personal computer in many cases. In this case, if the conventional bookmark function is used, only one URL can be stored to register the URL indicating one content. Therefore, there is a problem in that, since bookmark information cannot be commonly possessed among terminals, when bookmark information for desired contents are registered, a plurality of pieces of the bookmark information to be used for personal computers, portable terminals or a like has to be registered, thus causing difficult and complicated work.
Also, when the conventional bookmark function is used, the bookmark information being individually possessed by the user is limited to individual use and, as a result, when the bookmark information is transferred to others, another means such as oral or mail transferring method, or a like has to be employed among individuals.
Furthermore, in recent years, though distribution of advertisement contents using the Internet is becoming widespread, when the conventional bookmark function is employed, the advertisement contents in which the user does not show an interest in are also distributed at a same time, which makes it difficult to achieve effective distribution of contents.